Controller for locks of demountable containers



Nov 15, 1932. A. H. BATES ET AL 1,887,707

CONTROLLER FOR LOCKS OF DEMOUNTABLE CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 13, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 15, 1932. A. H. BATES ET AL 1,837,707

CONTROLLER FOR LOCKS OF DEMOUNTABLE CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 13, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 9%}: 49 v K? 7 I I I g}. a

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Patented Nov. 15, 1932 ALBERT irrarns, or saline HEIGHTS, ANDROBERT n. CBEAN, or BEREA, onro As- PA-TENT OFFICE I SIGNORS 'ro moron TERMIN S COMPANY, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, n con.-

PQRATION or DELAWARE CONTROLLER r011. Looks or DEMOU'NTAIBLE con'rAINERs Application filed February 13,1931. Seria1.No.'515,515.

This invention relates to door locking mechanism for demountable contalners, so arranged'that the deposit of the, container on its support may automatically'lock the door or leave it unlocked, according to a predetermined setting of the mechanism on the container. i

In its preferred form, ourinvention provides, in the base of the container, a depending member which is adapted to be raised by engagement with an upstanding actuator when the container is on a-suitable support carrying such, actuator; the raised member is adapted to cause the locking of the door or not according to a previoussettingof shiftable means on the container, and the shiftable means may for instance, comprise the depending locking member, or the; door bolt with which it may coact. Therefore, the set ting of the shiftable member may enable the mere placing of the containeron the support to automatically locksthe-door of the 'container, or .to'leave' the doorhl'ocking' mechanism. idle, notwithstanding the deposit of the container on that support. 7 I

lVe have shown, in the drawings hereof, different embodiments of our invention, and have hereinafter more fully described the same, and have set out the essential novel features in the claims. i

In the drawin s F 11 is an end elevation of a truck and ademountable body in the act of being raised therefrom, the parts being equipped with the door locking device;-Fig.

2 is a vertical section through the rear end of the body and truck platform, as indicated by the line 22 on Fig. 1; Fig. 3'gis a sectional elevation on'the line 3+3of Fig. 2 looking from the interior of the" container toward the .door; Fig. 4 is'a similar view showing the parts in different position; Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are details illustrating various-positions of the coacting locking lever and door bolt; Figs. 9 and 10. are sectional sections through the rear end of a demountable body havinga modified form ,of locking; system; Figs. 11 and 12 are vertical sections on the line1111 on Fig. '10 but illustratingthe parts'iin' different position; Figs. 13: and .14 are. vertical sections in .a plane corresponding'to Fig..11

but showing a modified form of locking mechanism; Fig.15 is a horizontal section on the'line15 15 on Fig. 13.

As shown in Fig. 1, A indicates the floor of a suitable truckor other vehicle,'and B a demountable bodyadapted to be placed thereon. Suitable means are provided: for positioning the body on-the vehicle, as for instance, upstanding conical corner projections I aa dapted'to engage sockets in a base frame of the body in accordance with Patent No.

1,772,?)39 of B. F. Fitch. While'we have shown only a truck for supporting the body, this is to be understood as illustrative of any vehicle or support, as for example a flat car or a stationary platform.-

The demountable body B as shown herein may comprise a substantially rectangular container having suitable doors in 'itswalls.

We have shown only onepair .offdoors b in the end wall of the container, but this is to wall.

be taken as illustrative of doors placed in Each pal by the deposit of a body on a predetermined support, but may or may" notbe'eifective, according to the setting of the container.

which is showninlatched'position comprises a pair of upright bolts 10. and 11, slidably I r of doors isprovided suitable latching device and with a. look, to cooperate therewith, which look is operated guided by housings -12 and l3 on the inner face of the door. The inner ends of the bolts are secured to a rocking head 15 which isi rigid on a horizontal shaft 16 mounted in the door. On the outer side '.of the door this shaft rigidly carries a handle 17.

By oscillating the handle 17, the head '15 is rocked, which forces outwardly or draws inwardly, as the case may be, the inner ends of thetwo bolts lOand 11;, so that they may be projected behind transverse members of the container, as for instance, behind the lintel member 8 above the door, and behind the sill member 9 below it, as shown in F 2,

or may be drawnrespectively upwardly and downwardly to clear such members. The

extreme ends of the housings 12 and 13 have substantially round holes guiding the bars i As shown in Fig. 2, the latching device 9 i at these points, whereas the adjacent walls of the housings have transverse siots enabling the pairs to swing as the member is rocked.

When the latching bolts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, they retain closed the door 'whiclicarries the bolts, and this door, by overlapping the other door, holds that door closed. Vile mount on the door which does not carry the shaftltl, a suitable clip 28' which the handle 17 isadapted to'abut'when the doors are raised, and then a suitable seal- :1ngwire29 may be passed through an opening in the clip and around the handle, thus sealing the container doors closed.

Sometimes the goodsein a container are intended for a single destination, and tl 'e'shi'pper desires to automatically lock the con- 7 tainer in addition to the'sealing wire or padlock when it is deposited on the transporting vehicle, and retain it locked until the container is removed, thus preventing'pilfering in transit. At other times, the goods in the containers-re not intended for the same desti- We have shown several methods of carrying out our controllable lockingsystem on the container: The first-descr bed isshown in Figs. 3 to 8 inclusive. In these figures, the

locking bolt-11 is provided with a sleeve which has alaterally projecting lip 21. This sleeve is normally pressed downward by a compression'spring 22 surrounding the bolt 11 and bearing against the upper endof the sleeve anda-collar- 24 of the bolt. -'When the bolt project-sat right angles to the door 7), as shown in Fig. 2,21 suitable notch 25 at the lower end'of'the sleeve re isters with a lateralprojection lion-the bolt and'retains the sleeve in this position. This is the posi-' tion, for automatic'locking, as about to be explained.

'32 carryin a .111 38 on which is oivotall Y 7 t3 l Mounted in the floor of thecontainer is a box-like housing 30, having in'its upper wall an opening 31, through which the lowerpor- .tion of the sleeve 20 extends." This housing 3Q'has a pair. of downwardly extending wings mounted a bell crank This bell crank has an upwardly extending 36 which is adaptedto overhang the lip 21 of tie sleeve. lVhen the lip 37 of the bell crankover-hangs the sleeve lip, as shown in igs. 2 and 3, itis impossible to raise the sleeve or bolt 11 and accordingly the doors are tightly, locked.

This overhanging takes place if the container with the sleeve set-as described, is deposited on the support equipped with means "to engage the bell crank and swing it, such means being illustrated as a stirrup (11 secured to the floor of the truck A of the member. Normally the bell crank lies by gravity in the position shown in broken lines in Fig. .3, so that the lip 37 is idleirrespective of the position of the sleeve 20. l/Vhen the sleeve is in its active position, as shownin Figs, 2, 3 and 5, then if thecontain'er is -d'epo'siteq'l onthe stirrup carrying support, thes'leeve'37 is swung over the -lip.-21, as sl own in Fig. 5, and the door is automatically locked.

QN ow, when theshipper desires to prevent the possibility of this automatic locking, he

simply raises the sleeve 20 before the door is closed and turns it at right angles to its locked position, bringing it into the position shown l ps in Fig. 8- with the lip 21 lying parallel with the door. 1 The sleeve is then held in this position by reason of the bolt lock 14 engaging another notch in the lower end of the sleeve. With the lip in-this position, itis entlrely "immaterial as to'the position'of thebell crank,

and in no case does it have any restraining influence on the door latching mechanism.

lnplace of shifting the bolt member into andfiout of position to coact with the bell crank lip, we may shift the bell crank itself so that it may or may not coact with a lip on the bolt 11 of the door latch. Such construction' is illustrated inlFigs. 9 to 12' in elusive, In this case, the box-like housi min the floor of the container is somewhat widerthan before and the pivot pin 33a somewhat longer, and the bell crank 35 which is made the same-as before, is slidable on this 'pivot'pin. lVh'en the bell crank lock is to be active, it is retained in position where it may cooperate with a lip 18 onthe lower end of the bolt 11 by means of a distance block which occupies the space between the bell crank and the housing wall'38 back of the same. On the other hand, to hold the bell crank in position where it is always idle, the block 40 is removed and the bell crank is shoved back against the wall 38 and the block replaced in front of itjbetween the bell crank and front "wall 39 ofthe housing, as shown in Fig. 10.

In this position, the action of the bell crank is immaterial, as it cannever engage the lip 18 of the door bolt... v

. The block 40 may be formed as shown in Figs; 9 to12, and have a diagonal notch a l at its lower portion so that when shoved downwardly from tlie'inse'rting position in Fig.

L12,-it will be guided laterally into its terminal position, as shown in Fig. 11, where the upper of the block is flush with the car floor. Theme suitable pin may be inserted behind theblock preventing its lateral movement, and thereby preventing its upper movement.

lhis construction prevents any displacement of the block 40 from below when the container is elevated When the parts are once set from the interior of the container, they can only be changed from the interior. The block is shown as having suitable recesses 42 on one face and 43 on the other to accommodatethe lips of the bell crank and bolt and allow free movement of each of them.

It will be seen that when this construction is employed, the shipper, before he closes the container, simply sets the bell crank in its active or inactive position,as desired,and thereafter, while the container door is closed, this setting cannot be changed. The bell crank normally stands in the position shown in F 11 and is thus out of the range of the bolt lip 18, irrespective of the setting of the bell crank on its pivot bolt, but if the container is deposited on a support having the stirrup a1 positioned to engage the bell crank, the latter is then swung into a position which is active or otherwise, according to the previous setting of the bell crank on its pivot pin. If desired, the stirrup all may be narrow enough to engage the bell crank only when it is shifted into the active position toward the endof the container as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10, but this is immaterial as the swinging of the bell crank when shifted awayi'rom the bolt 11 is idle. V

In Figs. 13, 14 and 15, instead of shift'n the bell crank on its pivot pin, we have larged the housing 306 laterally, so that the bell crank may be swung beyond its normal elevated position into an idle position and have provided a locking boltfor retaining it in this idle position. This bolt passes down through a lip in the housing 30?) and through an opening 51 in the lip 3'7 of the bell crank, and may thus retain thebell crank in position where it is ineffective whether or not it is deposited on a container having the abutment a1. When the bell crank is to be active, the pin is putin place in the housing lip in position where it will stand behind the bell crank lip and prevent the bell crank being swung to idleposition, as shown in Fig. 14. This is a very simple arrangement. The shipper, if he wishesthe automatic locking of the container to destination, simply places the pin 50, as shown in Fig. 14 and allows the bell crank 35 to be swung up into engagement with the stlrrup al on the supporting plat form. 011 the other hand, if he wishes access to the container during transit, he swings the bell crank into the abnormal position shown in Fig. 13 and Fig. 1, and by passing such coaction.

oi the doors. In any case, after the doors areclosedand locked or sealed, the setting cannot be changed without unlocking the doors or breaking the seal. 1

We claim:

1. The combination with a container, mechanism for locking the samerendered active or idle automatically upon the deposit of a container on'the support, according to a predetermined setting of a controlling device on the container.

2. The combination of a container, a looking device adapted to act automatically when the container is deposited on a suitable support, and means on the container. for rendering thelocking device idle. 3. The combination of a container, a door locking mechanism therefor, and an adj ustable controller on the container adapted to enable the mechanism to be locked or remain unlocked automatically upon the deposit of the container on a support.

4. The combination of a container having adoor, a latch for the, door, a lockcarried by the container and adapted to coact with imeans on a support for locking the latch,

and means on the container for rendering such actnugatory. r

5. The combination of a door, a latching device for thedoor, a lock for the latching device, said lock being adaptdevice shall lock thelatch or leave it free;

6. The combination of a container, alock therefor, a support for the container, .an abutment carried by the support and adapted to coact with the lock to move it from an idle position to one potentially active, and means on the container for determining whether such potentialactivity shall be effective. I

7. The combination of a container having a door and door latching mechanism, of a lock on the container adapted to be operated automatically bypositioning the container on a suitable support, said lock and door latch being adapted to coact with each other, and means for moving 8. The combination of a'container, mechanism adapted to lock the same automatically on the depositof the containeron a predetermined support, and a controlling device on the container and accessible only from within the container for predetermining the a container having one of them to prevent 'setting of the locking device to render it continuously idle or potentially active, as desired.

9. The combination of a container having a door, a locking device for the door adapted to act automatically when the container is deposited on a suitable support, and means on the container inaccessible when the door is closed for rendering the locking device idle.

10. The combination of a container having a door with a latching device, a swinging gravity lock adapted to coact with the latching oevice and be operated automatically upon the placing of a container on a predetermined support, and means for holding the gravity lock in an idle position.

11. A demountable container having a door, a locking device. therefor including a counterweighted member tending to move to unlocked position, but adapted to be moved into a potentially active position by engagement wih a support having a proper abutment, and aeans for changing the coaction between the door and locking device to render said potential position non-effective.

l2. lhecomblnatlon of a conta ner havtive, and means for withdrawing the shoulder on the bol to prevent its coaction with the bell crank 7 The combination of a. container having a door, a bolt carried by the door, a slidable sleeve onthe bolt havinga projecting lip,

a rocking bell crank mounted in the base of i and having alip adapted to the con overhang the lip of the sleeve or clear the same, according to the engagement of an arm of the bell crank with an abutment, said sleeve being adapted to be turned on the-bolt to idle position, and means for holding it idle. r V i 14. The combination of a doorhaving .a locking belt, a sleeve slidable on the boltand having a projecting lip, a spring acting on the sleeve, said sleeve having a pair of shoulders co-acting with a projection on the bolt whereby the spring may hold the sleeve with the lip projecting away fromjthe door or substantially parallel therewith, and a rocking device carried by the container and having a .lip adapted to be swung into position to overhang the lip of the sleeve when the sleeve is active, said rocking device having means whereby it engage a suitable abutment to rock it into the position described.

15. The combination of a container having a door, alatchibolt therefor,a rocking device having a lip adapted to overhang the latch bolt, a support having an abutment adapted to engage the rocking device to rock it into a position which may be active, said rocking device being shittable along its pivotal support, and means for holding it in its constantly inactive or its potentially active position as desired.

16. The combination of a container having a door, a locking device therefor, a. support having an abutment adapted to engage the loc ing device to move it into a position which may be active, said locking device being shittable along its pivotal support, and a block adapted to be positioned on one side or other or". the locking member and thereby hold it inposition where it is necessarily inactive or in position where it may be active.

17. A container having a, door, a rocking member carried in the base of the container and adapted to be swung by engagement of a suitable abutment to lock the door, and means on the cona ner for holding the rocking member in an'idle position where it cannotjengage the abutment.

18. The combination 01 a container having latch bolt therefor, adapted to overhang the latch bolt and having an arm adapted to engage an abutment on a suitable support to rock the bell crank from idle posit-on at one side of the latch bolt intocoaction therewith, and means for holdin g the bell crank with its lip in an idle position on the other sideof the latch bolt, the operating arm ot-the bell crank being retained high enough so that it cannot engage the abutment. V i 19. The combination of a container havin 0 a door, a latch bolt the 'efor, a housing in the a bell crank having a lip base of the container into which the latch bolt may extend, a :bell crank mounted in the housing having alip adapted'to overhang a lip on the latch bolt and having an arm adaptedto engage an abutment on a suitable support, and a pinadapted to engageith'e housing and bell crank and lock it in a position where it is'out of engagement with both the latch bolt and the-abutment.

In testimony whereof, we hereunto 'afiix our signatures. 1

ALBERT H. BATES. ROBERT H. MoBEAN. 

